Book I. Sect. 7. the others that they alone have no source of prosperity common to them with the whole population, Chap. vii. and constitute a class marked by the miserable singularity of having no interests, during the progressive advance of national industry and wealth, but not opposed such as are hostile to those of all the rest of man- other kind. We have seen then, that rents may rise from a diminution in the return to the producing classes of the capital last employed upon the soil, followed by a transfer to the landlords of a portion of the produce of the old soils, sufficient to equalize the share of the producing classes on all the soils cultivated that the rent thus generated forms no addition to the aggregate national revenue:-that it makes the joint amount of wages and profits comparatively less, that is less than it would have been had no diminution in the return to agricultural capital taken place:-that no positive decrease of the joint amount of wages and profits necessarily follows, because the increasing productive power of the non-agricultural portion of the community may balance, or more than balance the decreasing power of agricultural industry:--that this cause of the rise of rents is not like the two causes first examined, constantly in action as nations increase in wealth and numbers:-that its presence and influence in the elevation of rents are not proved by the circumstances usually quoted, as the most certain indications of its operation:-that where the relative numbers of the non-agricultural classes have been increasing, or where the proportion of the pro Interests of Landlords to those of Classes. Sect. 7. Landlords to those of BOOK I. duce taken by the landlords has not increased, there Chap. vii. is a strong and decisive reason to believe, that this cause has contributed nothing to any increase which Interests of has taken place in the rental of a country:-finally, not opposed that although the generation of rents from this partiother cular source is prejudicial to the nation, the general interests of the landlords are not on this account hostile to the progress of the industry and wealth of the people, since their continuous prosperity rests always on other foundations. Classes. We adduced facts and reasons to shew, that "the employment of additional labor without a pro"portional return," has in truth had no share in elevating the rental of our own country; and have pointed out that although it is, strictly speaking, a possible source of increased revenue of the landed proprietors, yet it is not, as the establishment of more efficient and complete cultivation is, a constant and necessary source of such an increase, wherever the wealth, and skill, and industry of a body of farmers are progressive. We are conscious that this peculiar source of a possible rise of rents has been dwelt on at somewhat greater length than its relative importance may seem to warrant. The reasons for this have been already intimated. The influence of a decreasing fertility of the soils last cultivated on the progress of rents, and the manner in which the interests of the whole population are affected by the process, have lately attracted much peculiar and anxious attention, and become the basis of much fallacious reasoning and wild speculation. Book 1. Chap. vii. Interests of to of Classes. Sir Edward West and Mr. Malthus had pointed out, that the soils actually cultivated in agricultural countries, were of very unequal quality, and that the actual prices of raw produce were barely Landlords sufficient, on some lands, to repay the expences of not opposed cultivation with the ordinary rate of profit; while other on others, the same prices did this, and left besides a surplus for rent. This fact once seen, it became evident that the relative value of raw produce depended not on the average cost of its production, but on the cost of producing a particular portion of it: that to secure the actual supply, the actual prices must be maintained, and could not be lessened, even though the rent paid for the better soils were abandoned to the tenants, or ceased to exist. It became evident too, that any circumstances which made more expensive the cultivation of the inferior soils used, would not diminish rents, but would raise prices, since the cultivator of the land which produced no rent must get his expences and profit, or the supply would fail and prices rise from that cause. The developement of these facts threw considerable light on the circumstances which determine the exchangeable value of raw produce, and on the effects and incidence of taxation; and opened besides many new views of those subjects. It is not perhaps surprising, that the two writers last named, should, in the first ardor of discovery, have been tempted to push the consequences of the facts to which they were drawing the attention of the public, somewhat farther than subsequent and more comprehensive enquiries would warrant. And, Chap. vii. Sect. 7. Interests of to those of other Classes. BOOK I. accordingly, both Sir Edward and Mr. Malthus, after pointing out, that as cultivation extends itself, the capital employed upon soils of different qualities Landlords produces very unequal returns, shew an occasional not opposed disposition to take it for granted, that in the progress of agriculture, every additional portion of capital applied to the soils must produce a less return than that which preceded it:-a distinct and very different proposition; entirely without foundation, when viewed relatively to capital employed in developing the powers of the old soils; and which, when confined to the case of capital laid out upon new and inferior soils, allows nothing for the progress of human power. The unsoundness of this assumption has already been pointed out. In the treatises of Sir Edward West and Mr. Malthus, however, these opinions were merely exaggerations of the consequences of an important truth, presented to the world without being sufficiently sifted. When adopted by Mr. Ricardo, they became unluckily the sole foundation of an extensive system of political 'philosophy, embracing the whole subject of rents, wages, profits and taxes; and attempting to explain, in a series of logical deductions, drawn from this narrow foundation, all the causes which in progress of nations regulate the revenues of the different classes of society'. It was of course essential to the "In treating on the subject of the profits of capital, it "is necessary to consider the principles which regulate the rise "and fall of rent; as rent and profits, it will be seen, have a very "intimate connection with each other." Ricardo, Essay on the Influence I. Book I Chap. vii. Sect. 7. Landlords to those of Classes. establishment of this system, that every other apparent cause of increasing rents should be proved illusory. Hence the attempts made to deny that the general increase of the produce of the soil, which Interests of follows the accumulation of capital upon it, can pos- not opposed sibly raise rents, or be beneficial to the landlords, other unless some of that capital be laid out without a diminished return, and the share of the producing classes be reduced. Hence, too, similar attempts to prove that agricultural improvements of every description, even those by which the expence of obtaining produce are made less, are, for a time, absolutely prejudicial to the interests of the proprietors, and only begin to be useful to them when the cost of getting produce on the soils governing price has been increased'. From a system which Influence of low Price of Corn on the Profits of Stock, Introduction, p. 1. "The general profits of stock depend wholly "on the profits of the last portion of capital employed on the “land.” Ricardo, Ibid. p. 20. "But I think it may be most "satisfactorily proved, that in every society advancing in wealth “and population, independently of the effect produced by libe"ral or scanty wages, general profits must fall unless there be "improvements in agriculture, or corn can be imported at a cheaper price. It seems the necessary result of the principles "which have been stated to regulate the progress of rent." Ricardo, Ibid. p. 22. But those who are at all acquainted with Mr. Ricardo's writings, will want no extracts to prove to them the manner in which his notions, as to the one peculiar source of rents, served as a basis for all his speculations on the distribution of wealth. 2 If, by the introduction of the turnip husbandry, or by "the use of a more invigorating manure, I can obtain the 66 same produce with less capital, I shall lower rent." Ricardo on |